A marketing executive had to have her leg amputated above the knee after crashing her Mini Cooper into a tree while sleepwalking.

Kelly Jackson, 26, spent three weeks in a coma following the horror crash less than half a mile from her home in Billesley, Birmingham.

The terrifying incident occurred after she spent the night with friends and went home to bed, only to wake up and sleepwalk to her Mini Cooper.

While still dressed in her pyjamas, she drove the vehicle along a road near her home before smashing into a tree, causing her to thrown out of the vehicle and left trapped under the wreckage.

Kelly Jackson, 26, spent three weeks in a coma, suffered brain injuries and needed her right leg amputated above the knee after sleepwalking to her Mini Cooper and crashing it into a tree in Billesley, Birmingham

She spent four months recovering from the crash on May 18, 2013, at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham after suffering a brain injury and severe burns.

Tragically, her right leg could not be saved and was amputated above the knee.

She also underwent a string of operations to reconstruct parts of her face and she still needs more surgery.

However, she has now spoken out for the first time about the incident telling how she 'counts her lucky stars she is still alive'.

She said: 'I know what I have been told, that I was out with friends, my ex-boyfriend dropped me home and my nan saw me go to bed.

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'I used to sleepwalk as a child and I can only assume I must have slept walked that night, which is incredibly scary.

'Friends and doctors have suggested I slept walked. It is very scary to think that. I think I slept walked. I can't offer another explanation for it.

'I have no memory of being in the car or the crash itself, I suspect I will never really know what happened but one thing I do know is that I am lucky to be alive.'

The marketing executive said she had also come to terms with the fact she had lost her right leg from just above the knee.

Miss Jackson, who suffered a brain injury and severe burns in the crash as well as needing her right leg amputated above the knee, has spoken for the first time about the incident saying she 'feels lucky to be alive'

She said: 'I'm not upset about my leg - I count my lucky stars that I am alive.

'I haven't really had dark days. But I am impatient so I have found the recovery process very slow.

'I know I still have a long way to go. I know it sounds silly but I am only 5ft tall and I used to live in high heels so I'm gutted I will probably never wear a stiletto again.

'But I never had a moment when I thought: "God, I've lost my leg what am I going to do?"

'After I awoke from the coma my family had to tell me every day what had happened to me.

'The brain injury meant I wouldn't remember from one day to the next. I used to have a diary next to my bed.

'Visitors would write down the day and time and what we talked about.

'I would wake up the next day and read it to find out who had been to see me as I could never remember.'

Miss Jackson is now preparing to abseil 150ft (45.72 metres) down the Birmingham's Hampton by Hilton Hotel.

Money donated from the achievement will be split between the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, disability charity LimbPower and The Katie Piper Foundation, which helps those living with burns and scars.

Miss Jackson added: 'I'm terrified of heights and not sure how it will be to abseil with one leg.

'But I want to prove to other patients that life does get better and you can do anything you put your mind to.

'I've taken so much time from the nurses, surgeons, consultants and therapist. I just want to give something back to the hospital and charities that have helped me in my recovery.'